


Dead Girl Walking

by cheerfulmorgue



Series: Theatre to Sherlock [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Heathers, Angst, F/M, High School, Murder, Murder-Suicide, Romance, Smut, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-05 00:38:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14032323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheerfulmorgue/pseuds/cheerfulmorgue
Summary: Molly Hooper longs to be like the clique of it-girls that run Baskerville: the unaffected, unattainable Sign of Three. Unfortunately, in addition to their popularity, the Three dominate the school into submission with their cruelty. When Molly impresses the leader, Irene Adler, with her incredible forgery skills in order to get them out of detention, the Three let her into their clique. Molly is thrilled until she discovers that to be apart of the now Sign of Four, she must slouch down to their level. Meanwhile, Molly meets a mysterious new boy, Sherlock Holmes. When an innocent prank results in the accidental poisoning of Irene Adler, Sherlock convinces Molly to stage Irene's suicide. The results are so successful that Molly and Sherlock, high on their newfound power, resolve to rid Baskerville of the cruelly popular elite forever.  (Plot and most dialogue belongs to the writers of Heather's the Musical)





	1. Beautiful

_1st of September, 1996._

_Dear Diary,  
_ _I believe I'm a good person. You know, I believe that there's good in everyone, but here we are ... first day of year twelve! And I look around at these kids that I've known all my life and I ask myself: What happened?  
_ _Just twelve years ago we were so tiny, happy and shiny. We played tagged, got chased. We sang and clapped and laughed and napped together. We baked cookies, we ate paste! But then we got bigger, that was the trigger.  
_ _Like the Huns invading Rome!  
_ _Welcome to my school, it isn't like any other secondary school. This is the Thunderdome.  
_ _And every day I'm holding my breath and counting the days to graduation because I know university will be paradise if I'm not dead by July!  
_ _But I know life can be beautiful and I pray for a better way. I mean, if we changed back then, we could change again! We could be beautiful....  
_ _Just not today._

_2nd of September 1996.  
_ _Dear Diary,  
_ _Things will get better as soon as my letter comes from Oxford, Cambridge, or Queen Meena. I'll wake from this coma, take my diploma, and then I can blow this town!  
_ _For years I've been dreaming of ivy-covered walls and smokey French cafes. I've fought the urge to strike a match and set this dump ablaze!_

The diary fell from Molly's hands and she stared daggers at the man standing in front of me.

He smirked. "Ooooops."

Jim Moriarty. Third year as sweeper and eighth year of smacking lunch trays and being a  _huge_  prick.

Little did she know, she had just described him aloud.

Jim grasped onto her jumper, his face too close to hers. "What did you say to me?"

"Agh! Nothing!" He dropped her and walked in the opposite direction as I picked up my diary, flipping it back to the page she'd been writing on.

_But I know life can be beautiful and I pray for a better way. We were kind before, we can be kind once more. We can be beautiful._

"Agh! Oh! Hey Meena."

"Hey!"

Meena Mani. Molly's best friend since nappies.

"Are we still on for movie night?" she asked Molly.

"Yeah! You're on Butterkist detail."

"I rented The Princess Bride!"

She laughed. "Again? Wait, don't you have it memorized by now?"

Meena shrugs. "What can I say? I'm a sucker for a happy ending."

Her tray was slapped from her hands and clattered to the floor. "Meena Mani! Alone! Aha!"

Meena's an orphan. And this prick? Seb Watson. Center Fullback. Meena thinks he's the little boy with the crush on him, pulling on her pigtails on the playground. He is the smartest bloke on the futball team, which is kind of like being the tallest dwarf.

"Hey!" I shout, "Pick that up! Right now."

"I'm sorry, are you actually talking to me?"

"Yes I am. I want to know what gives you the right to pick on my friend. You're a high school has been waiting to happen. A future petrol station attendant."

He took a couple of steps forward, then pressed a finger to the centre of her forehead. "You've got a spot right there."

The whole dining hall started laughing as Seb and Jim high-fived. Molly picked up Martha's tray, thanking God that it hadn't been full of food this time as she handed it back to her and opened her diary again.

_Why do they hate him? Why won't she fight back? Why does he act like such a creep? Why won't he date her? Why did he hit him? Why do they cry themselves to sleep?  
_ _Somebody hug me. Somebody fix be. Somebody save me. Send me a sign, God! Give me some hope here! Something to live for!_

Molly closed her diary as the dining hall went silent, the queen bees of her drab school strutting into the room not only acting like they own the place but  _actually_  owning it.

It's the Sign of Three, they float above it all.

Janine Hawkins, head cheerleader (Molly's school has the rare, competition based cheerleading). Her dad is  _loaded_. He sells engagement rings.

Sally Donovan. Runs the yearbook. (No discernable personality, but her mum  _did_  pay for implants.)

And Irene Adler. The Almighty.... She is a mythic bitch.

They're solid tethalon. Never bothered, never harassed. Molly would have given anything to be like that.

She peeks around into the restroom. Irene is fixing her makeup in the mirror while Janine is looking at who I can only assume is Sally. Sally's green skirt (and most of her bare upper thighs) are jutting out of a stall as Molly heard vomiting. This had become Sally's post-lunch ritual, shoving two fingers down her throat.

Irene closes her eyes as she powders her nose. "Grow up Sally, bulimia is so '94."

"Irene's right," Janine says, "maybe you should see a doctor, Sally."

Molly briefly saw Sally's face as she responds to her friend. "Yeah, Janine, maybe I should." She turns and vomits again as a toilet flushes and a teacher steps out of the stall next to Sally's.

Ms Smallwood smirks, raising a brow. "Ah, Irene and Janine." More vomiting. Smallwood rolls her eyes. "And Sally.... Perhaps you didn't hear the bell over all of the vomiting. You're late for class."

Molly ripped a page out of her diary and began scribbling on it against the wall.

"Sally wasn't feeling well," Irene says, "We're helping her!"

"Not without a hall pass you're not. Week's detention. All three of you."

"Actually," Molly said, holding up the paper and rushing into the room, "Ms Smallwood, all four of us are out on a hall pass." She takes the note from her hand and scans over it, frowning. "Yearbook committee."

"I see you're all listed...." She throws it back at her, beginning to walk out without even washing her hands. "Hurry up and get where you're going."

Irene snatches the note from her hand, her eyes widening as she reads over it. "This is an excellent forgery. Who are you?"

"Erh, Molly. Hooper.... I crave a boon." She mentally smacks myself in the face.

"What boon?"

Her eyes widened as she considered turning and running away, but she forced herself to commit. "Erh, let me sit at your table? At lunch. Just once. If people think that you lot tolerate me then they'll leave me alone." The three laughed in her face and Molly began to panic. "Before you respond, I also do report cards, permission slips, and absence notes."

"How about prescriptions?"

"Shut up Sally!"

"Sorry, Irene!"

Irene steps forward, then walks a circle around Molly, examining her up and down. "For a greasy little nobody, you  _do_  have good bone structure."

"And a symmetrical face." Janine hops forward and places her hands on either side of my face. "If I took a meat cleaver down the centre of your skull I'd have matching halves. That's  _very_  important."

Sally crosses her arms and juts out her hip. "Of course you could stand to lose a few pounds."

"But you know," Irene says, "this could be beautiful. Mascara, maybe some lipgloss, and we're on our way. Get this girl some blush-" Sally rushed to her purse and begins digging through it, "-and Janine I need your brush. Let's make her beautiful."

"We'll make her beautiful," the three said at the same time, sounding like the creepy twins from  _The Shining_. They could be creepy triplets if there was a remake, Molly thought.

Irene cocks her head at Molly, each girl standing by her sides. "Okay?"

She nodded her head. "Okay!"

And they made her beautiful.

_3rd of September, 1996._

_Dear Diary,  
_ _Life really can be beautiful! If you just hope and dream and pray you'll get your way!  
_ _If you were to ask me how it feels to look like Hell on wheels, well....  
_ _My_ God _, it's beautiful. I might be beautiful!  
_ _And when you're beautiful it's a beautiful freaking day!!!!_


	2. Candy Store

_Dear Diary,  
_ _It's been three weeks since I became friends with the Sign of Three! Right, okay, well friends might not be the right term ... it's kind of like a partnership. We work together. Our job is being popular and shit._

"Hey Molly!"

Meena snapped her diary shut as she gave Meena a smile. "Hey!"

"You really do look beautiful these days," Meena said, giving her a sort of sad smile.

Molly moved a strand of hair from her face. "Well, thank you, but it's still the same me underneath all this ... lip gloss and hairspray."

The sad smile began to falter. "Are you sure?"

Molly sighed. "Look, Meena, I'm sorry I flaked on movie night last week. I just have a lot going on."

"I get that. You're with the Three now! Or, I guess Four. That's exciting!"

"It's ... something. Whatever." She shook her head." But, hey, we'll hang out really soon. I promise!"

"Okay!"

Molly prayed that she wasn't just giving her best friend hope. When she joined the Sign she had no idea how much time it would take up. It was always to Janine's house for tea and then to Sally's for croquet and in the mornings before school the Three - or Four - always met up for breakfast and makeup. Molly was now living on a strict schedule and if she ran late or even early she would be kicked out. She'd be nothing again and there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen.

There was a tap on her shoulder. She swiveled around, heart pounding, only to see Sally standing there, inspecting her nails. "Molly! Irene wants you to haul arse to the table. Pronto!"

"How very." Molly waved a goodbye to Meena and then followed Sally to their table.

Irene shoved a pen and paper into her hands, then inspected her own perfectly manicured nails. "Molly, I need a forgery in Sebastian Moran's hand writing. You'll need something to write on. Sally, bend over." Sally bent over and Molly furrowed her brows before beginning to write what Irene said. "'Hey beautiful. I've been watching you and thinking about us in the old days. I hope you can come to my party this weekend. I miss you. Miss me? Seb.' Oh! And put an xo after the signature." Janine and Sally laugh as Molly finished writing, allowing Sally to stand up straight again.

Molly handed the note to Irene who smirked down at it, eyes gleaming. "Who's this for anyways?"

Irene folded up the note. "I just found out that Seb used to hang out with that psycho Meena Manly."

Molly winced at that nickname. Meena, despite only being seventeen, has seen every member of her family die. Her parents, brother, cousins, aunts and uncles, her grandparents - everyone - were all gone. One tragic death after the other. Everyone at school called her Manly. They thought it was funny that death seemed to follow her wherever she went.

"Yeah," Molly nodded, glaring at all three of them, "we all did. In year one.  _All_  of us did."

"Well," Sally smirked, "we didn't all kiss Meena on the playground, did we?"

Janine's eyes widened, her smile widening. "Oh, I remember that! Seb kissed Meena Manly! It was disgusting!"

Seb and Jim approached and the latter leaned over to his friend. "It would be absolutely  _righteous_  - is that the word Seb? Yes? - to be in the middle of a Irene Adler and Molly Hooper sandwich!"

"Oh, bloody hell yeah! Punch it in!"

Irene called them over and they glanced at eachother, then practically galloped the remaining steps between themselves and the girls. "Be a sweetie and give this note to Meena Manly for me." She handed him the note.

Seb furrowed his brows. "Since when do you talk to that lard-arse?"

He began to open the note, but Irene grabbed his hand to stop him. "No! Don't read it. She's having a really heavy flow and wanted advice from my gyno."

"What?" Jim asked as Seb threw the note in the air. Molly caught it and shoved it in her blazer pocket as the boys hurried off.

"Hey!" Irene tried to reach her hand into Molly's pocket. "What are you doing?"

"Please don't do this. Not to Meena."

"Why?" Sally asked. "It'll give her shower nozzle masturbation material for weeks!"

"Shut it Sally!"

"Sorry Irene."

Molly ignored their quarrel. "Meena has had a thing for Sebastian for like twelve years now. Please, this will kill her."

"That's kinda the point," said Janine.

Irene stepped forward. "Will we be having problem? Have you got a bone to pick? You've come so far, why now are you pulling on my cock?" She sighed. "Normally I'd beat you silly while everyone here watches  _but_  I'm feeling nice. Here's some advice."

Sally smirked. "Listen up, Bitch."

"Shut it, Sally."

"Sorry Irene."

Irene flipped her hair back, "There are many things that make people like us better than people like Meena Manly. We're hot, we're rich, and we party hard. And we are total boss bitches. Now, you can join team and live the dream or you can bitch, moan, and die alone with the rest of your little loser friends. Keep on testing me, Molly Hooper, and you'll end up like her." She pointed at Meena, who was running towards them.

"Molly, look! Sebastian invited me to his party! See! What did I say?  _I told you_  there was still something there! This proves his been thinking about me!"

"Colour me..." she looked back at Janine, who gave her a wicked smile. She must have given Meena the note during Irene's monologue. "...stoked."

"I'm so happy!" She ran back to where she had been sitting.

"Honey whatcha waitin' for?"

"Shut up Sally!" Irene spun Molly around. "Now then, step into my candy store. It's time to prove your not a lame-arse anymore. Just step into my candy store."

"Your candy store?"

"It's a metaphor."

"For what?"

"Shut up Molly!"

Molly sighed, taking one last look back at Meena. "Sorry, Irene."


	3. Fight For Me

     “You shouldn’t have bowed down to the swatch dogs and diet coke heads. They’re gonna crush that girl.” Molly turned around to find the source of the voice: a boy about her age with dark, curly hair and a wool trench coat. A Belstaff? 

     She turned back, seeing that the Three had already left, leaving her alone with this boy. “Sorry, what?”

     “Well, clearly you’ve got a soul,” he said, making a circle around her, “you just need to work harder to keep it clean. ‘We are all born marked for evil.’” He gave her a small smile before turning away and starting off.

     “Okay, don’t just quote Baudelaire at me and then walk off. Excuse me?” He stopped. “I didn’t even catch your name.”

     “Did I throw it?”

     “What?”

     He turned to her. “My name.”

     “Well, you didn’t but–”

     “Hey sweetheart! What did your boyfriend say when you told him you were moving to Shoreditch?”

     “Agh!” The boy’s hand flew to the back of his head, Jim and Sebastian high fiving behind him.

     “My buddy Jim just asked you a question.”

     “Hey Seb, doesn’t the dining hall have a no faggots allowed rule?”

     The boy gave the two a gleaming smile. “They seem to have an open door policy for arseholes.”

     “Are we supposed to feel intimidated?”

     He looked Sebastian and Jim up and down and turned back to Molly. He whispered, “Gay.”   
     Jim’s smile dropped. “Hold his arms.” Molly hopped back. Sebastian grabbed hold of his arms but before Jim got the chance to swing at him the boy kicked him in the gut and broke free, before turning round' and smacking Jim across the face with his book, knocking him to the floor. 

     Sebastian let go of his stomach and shook his head. “Oh, you’re in trouble now.” He charged at the boy, who closed his hands around Seb’s head and let out a shout as he slammed their foreheads together. He stumbled backwards as Sebastian fell to the floor alongside Jim.

     Biting back a grin, Molly opened up her diary, her pen flying across the next empty page.

 

_ Dear Diary,  
_ _ Why when you see boys fight does it look so horrible yet feel so … right? I know, I shouldn’t watch this crap, it’s not who I am. But honestly, am I really myself after the Three? Hell, I don’t even care because this boy?  _

 

     As the boy turned Jim was just beginning to get to his feet. He walked over to him and clocked him right in the nose causing him to fall to the ground yet again. 

 

_ Damn. _

 

     Then Sebastian was up again.The boy brought up his steel-toed boots to meet Seb’s crotch, forcing him to double over.

 

_ So, who is this Mr No Name kid? Who might he be? And would he fight for me? Would he face the crowd? Would he be seen with me and still act proud?  
_ _ Would he hold my hand? And would he carry me through no man’s land?  _

 

     Jim was up again and swinging a punch at the boy but he leaned back, just barely dodging it before returning the punch and hitting him across the cheek.

 

_ But I would fight for him if he would fight for me.  
_ _ Let them drive us underground. I don’t care how far. He could set my broken bones and I know CPR.  _

 

     He strikes Sebastian, shaking his hand out and examining his certainly bruised knuckles. Jim runs at him and the boy grabs a fistful of both Jim and Seb’s hair, smashing their heads together.

 

_ Woah, he can punch real good. He’s lasted longer than I thought he would.  
_ _ So maybe if some night he’s free, if he’s still alive, he could fight for me. _


	4. Freeze Your Brain

“God, Molly. Drool much?” Irene rolled her eyes, disgusted. Her fingers clasping her croquet mallet, knuckles turning white. “You were practically throwing your knickers at that new kid.” She looked back at Sally and Janine, who both half-arsed laughs. “And from the look of your house, you can’t afford replacement knickers.” She looked back at the girls who once again faked laughter.

Molly looked down, aiming her mallet at the wooden ball that sat at her feet. “Oh come on. I don’t even know his name.” She hit the ball, watching as it zoomed toward her mother who was walking towards them with plates of some sort of mush. “Mum, look out!”

Molly’s mother hopped over the ball, nearly dropping the plate. “Hey girls! Care for some pâté?”

Irene scoffed. “That isn’t pâté.It’s blood pudding.”

“I know that Irene,” Mrs Hooper said, “It’s a family joke!” She placed a hand over her heart as she chuckled.

This time Irene half-arsed a laugh. “Funny.”

Molly’s mother continued laughing before handing the plate to Sally, who gagged as soon as she turned back to Molly. “So, girls,” she looked back at the others, “any plans for tonight?”

Molly took the plate from Sally. “Um, big party at Sebastian Moran’s house. I’m catching a ride with Irene.”

“Speaking of which,” Irene lay her mallet over her shoulder, picked up her ball, and walked off towards the gate, Sally and Janine following suit.

“Great…. Great pâté! Mum,” she handed the plate back to her mother, “but we better motor if we want to be ready for that party.”

Mrs Hooper reached out her free hand to grab her daughter’s. “Molly, don’t let the popular girls change you.”

Molly sighed. “I need them.”

“For what? You have friends. Like sweet, sweet Mary! Why haven’t you had her around lately?”

“M-maybe I want more out of life than blood pudding.”

Irene cleared her throat at the gate and Molly turned from her mother. She leaned her mallet over her shoulder and joined the Three as they walked to Irene’s Porsche.

“Molly! Don’t forget to buy Jammy Dodgers.It’s not a party without Jammy Dodgers!”

Molly stood in the doorway of the petrol station and gave her fakest smile. “Yes, Irene. Hearts or Flowers?”

“Hearts and flowers!”

Molly rolled her eyes and shut the door, heading to the snack area of the store when a voice caused her to jump. She spun around to see the same curly haired, bruised knuckle boy from the dining hall.

“Greetings and salutations. You want a Slurpee with that?”

She smirked. “No, but if you’re nice I’ll let you buy me a Big Gulp.”

“That’s like going to Mickey Dee’s and ordering a salad!” He stepped forward, showing off the cup in his hand like Carol Merrill. “Slurpees are the signature order of the house. Did you say cherry or lime?”

“I said Big Gulp. I’m Molly, by the way. Molly Hooper. Ever going to tell me your name?”

“I’ll end the suspense.” He stuck out his hand and she shook it. “William Sherlock Scott Holmes. But I usually just go by Sherlock.”

“So, Sherlock….” Molly shoved her hands in the pockets of her blazer and turned away. “That thing you pulled in the canteen was pretty severe.”

“The extreme never fails to make an impression.”

“What brings a Baudelaire quoting badass like Sherlock Holmes to Shoreditch?”

“My brother’s work. He is climbing his way into the British government and, due to some very unfortunate history, his connections in the government have us moving around. A lot.”

“Unfortunate history?”

“Ever been to Baker Street?”

“No,” she shook her head, “but I saw that explosion on the news. Those two guys escaped through the first-floor window and somehow landed without breaking anything! I swear it’s not even true. How could someone, let alone two people, be lucky enough to survive that?” Her eyes widened, then her brows furrowed as she turned to Sherlock. “Wait, was that you?”

“My brother and I.”

“What happened?”

“My sister,” he said,”in all her toxic glory.”

“Everyone’s life has got static,” Molly told him, shrugging her shoulders.

“Well, not everyone’s static has psychopathic tendencies.”

“Molly!” Irene screamed, dragging out the name for at least fifteen seconds. Molly rolled her eyes while Sherlock sipped his Slurpee.

She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at the door. “For example, I don’t really like my friends.”

Sherlock laughed, leaning against a counter. “I don’t like your friends either…. You should bag the party. Hang here.”

“At the 7Eleven?” Molly spun back to the shelves, grabbing a couple of packets of Jammy Dodgers. “Swanky first date.”

“Hey, I love this place.”

“No offence, Sherlock, but why?”

“Well,” he took a couple of steps forward, “I’ve been through ten schools and they start to get blurry. No point planting roots because I'm gone in a hurry. My brother keeps to suitcases packed in the den so it’s only a matter of when?” He walked back to the Slurpee machines and began filling his cup with more cherry. “I don’t learn the names, don’t bother with faces. All I can trust is this concrete oasis. Seems every time I’m about to despair there’s a 7Eleven right there. Each store is the same from Essex to Nottingham, linoleum isles that I love to get lost in. I pray at my altar of slush. I live for this sweet frozen rush.” He slurped his drink, then placed a couple of fingers to his temple. “I freeze my brain. Suck on a straw and get lost in the pain. Happiness comes when everything numbs. I don’t need cocaine anymore. All I have to do is freeze my brain.”

“Anymore?” Molly sighed as he rolled back his sleeve, showing some injection scars. “Well, it seems you have some pretty unhealthy habits. Does your mummy know you eat all this crap?”

“Not anymore.” He slurped again. “When Mum and Dad were alive, we lived halfway normal. Now it’s just me and my brother, we’re less formal. I learned to cook pasta while he learned to pay rent. We learned the world doesn’t owe us a cent.

“You’re planning your future Molly Hooper. You’ll go to some Uni and marry a doctor but the sky’s going to hurt when it falls so you’d better start building some walls.” He raised his cup. “Freeze your brain, swim in the ice and get lost in the pain. Shut your eyes tight, til’ you vanish from sight. Let nothing remain.”

“Freeze my brain?”

“Shatter your skull! Fight pain with more pain. Forget who you are, unburden your load. Forget in six weeks you’ll be back on the road and when that voice in your head says you’re better off dead don’t open a vein. Just freeze your brain.” He held it out to her. “Try it.”

She thought for a moment, then stepped forward and sucked on the straw. The fizzy, yet smooth cherry slush exploded in her mouth and she couldn’t help but smile. It was delicious. But she couldn’t give in that easily.

“I don’t see what the big deal- oh!” She dropped the packets of biscuits as she clutched her forehead, a sharp pain ricocheting through her skull. “Agh! Son of a bitch!”

A bell chimed as the door to the 7Eleven opened. “Molly! Jammy. Dodgers.”

Molly bent over and picked up the packets, tossing them onto the counter, letting the cashier ring them up. “Yeah.”

“Wave bye-bye to Red Dawn here and let’s motor!” Irene flipped her hair over her shoulder and spun around, walking out of the store. Molly paid the cashier and picked up the packets before waving and heading off towards the doors, but Sherlock stopped her.

“Remember what I said earlier, Molly Hooper. You shouldn’t bow down to them. It’s not a good idea.” He saluted, leaning against the counter and continuing to drink his Slurpee.


	5. Big Fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Mum and Dad forget to lock the liquor cabinet...

First party of the term was held at Sebastian Moran’s home; a great two storey building with its third layer containing a pool and one of the only jacuzzis in Shoreditch. Almost the whole of their twelfth-year class attended, the only ones absent being Meena, Sherlock, and a couple other outcasts.

This was Molly’s first time attending one of Seb’s parties and, as much as she hated to admit it, she was having the time of her life. She felt like Bono at Live Aid back in 1985! 

“Right, so it’s salt and then lime and then shot!” She threw back her neck, grimacing as she swallowed the fiery liquid. She shouted gleefully, throwing her shot glass in the air along with her arms.

Sally rolled her eyes as she snatched the shot glass from her. No, you’re doing it wrong!”

“Yeah! It’s salt,  _ then _ shot,” Janine chimed in.

Molly shook her head, her vision beginning to blur as her head swayed. “Wait, really? ‘Cus I feel  _ great _ !”

“Woah, Molly. You are looking  _ good _ tonight!” 

Molly turned to see a bloke who had never spoken to her, Greg Lestrade, winking at her before walking away. Janine and Sally were smirking, proud of their creation. A hot guy had just smiled at her without a trace of mockery. She ran after him. “Hey, is that a spliff? I want a hit!”

He grinned, handing over the blunt. “Take it. I’ll roll another.” 

“Thanks!” She immediately put it to her lips. Stoned. Zoned. She knew she should quit but she had to admit that the dizziness and the giggling just made the night even better. She wanted even more. “Hey, Sally! Where’s the vodka?” Sally was smirking again. She set the shot glass on a nearby table and made to pour the vodka in, but Molly snatched the bottle away from her, resulting in a shout from the girl. 

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

“Down the hatch.” She threw back the bottle, resulting in cheers not just from the girls but from everyone on that floor. She held up the bottle as they applauded, free hand wiping at the dribble from her mouth. “Who wants to try?”

Janine snatched it from her. “Ooh, me! Me!” As she proceeded to drown herself in the vodka, Molly looked around at the room. Everyone was high as a kite, laughing at everything  _ but _ her. For once in her life people were laughing without bullying her. It was a dream come true! 

Until…

“Hey Molly!” She spun around to see Meena standing by her, waving wildly with a bottle of something in her hand.

Her heart sunk, dropping to her stomach. “Meena! I - erh - can’t believe you actually came.”

“I know! It’s exciting right?” 

There was a splash and the two turned toward it. A couple in their undergarments had fallen into the pool, grabbing at each other and somehow remaining a float as their lips stayed locked together. Molly shook her head, making a note to herself to stop doing that as she was getting more and more nauseous.

Meena gasped, then laughed in a dry, nervous way. “Looks like they’re having big fun.”

“I think that’s what they call ‘third base.’” Molly laughed and her friend giggled along before jumping.

“Oh! Excuse me, I want to say hello to Seb.”  She held up the bottle, which Molly’s eyes could not focus on. “I brought blackcurrant Ribena!” And with that she sashayed her way to where Sebastian stood. 

Molly couldn’t dare watch Sebastian break her friend’s heart, so instead she turned her attention to Sally, who was being lifted off her feet. Jim had his face buried under her skirt and she was kicking her legs.

“Quit it, arsehole! Let go of me!”

Molly ran - staggered - to the rescue. “Jim! Emergency! I just saw some year tens sneaking over the fence.”

He practically threw Sally on the ground. “I hate year tens…. Where are you little pricks!  _ I’m coming for you…. _ ”

Molly helped the girl to her feet. “Hey, are you okay?”

“I didn’t need your help.” Sally stuck her middle finger up.

“Awwww, thanks Sally! But I don’t really have to vomit right now.” She swore she nearly pissed herself from laughing, even as Sally’s ears steamed as she stormed off toward the vodka.

“Alright Shoreditch!” shouted Irene . “Time to celebrate our upcoming victory over the Natterjacks but whacking apart their mascot!” She yelped, then smirked as Jim smacked her ass.

Janine approached them, holding a blindfold and a bat. “We need a volunteer to take the first swing.”

“Meena Mani. I think you should do the honours.” Irene gestured to the girl and Sally took her arm and led her to the others. 

“Oh, I - erh - I don’t really know this game.”

“Let’s show this girl some Shoreditch spirit!”

The others, who had now formed a crowd around Meena and the Three, began chanting her name and clapping. Janine wrapped the blindfold around her eyes and handed her the bat while Sally brought out a giant toad shaped piñata which bore a very Meena-like wig.

Despite her nausea, Molly marched up to Sally and snatched the piñata from her hands. “What are you doing?! Sally, give it to me!”

Sally attempted to snatch it back, Janine and Irene backing her up. The four began a tug of war match while the crowd chanted “Girl fight! Kiss! Kiss! Fight! Fight!”

Somehow, in her drunken rage, Molly snatched the piñata from Three. “What is your damage? You want this?” She held up the piñata and then tossed it into the pool. “You can swim for it!”

Meena was just taking the blindfold off when Molly reached her. “What’s going on?”

“Listen, just go home. I’ll explain everything to you later.”

“No, but I was just-”

“Meena, just go home!” She hated to do it, but she pushed Meena away and watched as she scurried across the room, disappearing through the door. Then, Molly turned back to the Three, all of whom were boiling in their own skin. “Well, we gave it a shot! I’m resigning my commission from the Lipgloss Gestapo. I’m going back to civilian life.”

“No!” Irene grabbed her shoulder pad and spun her around, forcing her close.

“Don’t spin me! I’m not feeling well.”

“You don’t get to be a nobody! Come Monday, you’re an ex-somebody! Not even the losers will touch you now.” Irene’s breath was stinging Molly’s eyes and smelled of marijuana and vodka. “Transfer to Oaklands, transfer to Highlands, Whitefield. Nobody at Shoreditch is going to let you play their reindeer games.” 

She released Molly from her tight grasp. Molly reeled back, clutching her stomach. Then she stepped forward, mouth opening wide to shout back, but instead retching and vomiting on Irene’s skirt.

She screamed, her hands clutching the air in her rage. “I raised you up from nothing! And what’s my thanks? I get paid in vomit!”

“Oh, lick it up baby. Lick. It. Up.”

Irene was silent for a moment, then smirked. “I know who I’m eating lunch with on Monday. Do you?”

Molly looked around. Each group who she laid eyes on turned away, holding back sniggers. She shook her head, her nails digging into the skin of her palms as she half staggered-half stormed out to the cheers of the crowd.


End file.
